Maximilian Otto Bismarck Caspari wrote of him: - “As to the transcendent military genius of Hannibal there cannot be two opinions. The man who for fifteen years could hold his ground in a hostile country against several powerful armies and a succession of able generals must have been a commander and a tactician of supreme capacity” Robert Garland

- Though this claim may seem questionable to our post Hanibalic world, It was moreover the experience of the Second Punic War the first stimulated the Romans to write a national history. Polybius chose 220BC to begin narrative of Rome’s tak over of the Mediterranean

- It is largely due to Hannibal’s defeat at Zama that we stand here today as the heirs of Graeco Romano culture. Had Scipio lost there is no guarantee that the Carthaginians would have incorporated Hellenic culture into their livelyblood

- It was the Hannibalic war which drew he Romans into the Greek orbit as never before wh- Arguably Hannibal’s greatest legacy is that he left Rome with no serious rival- Linda –Marie Gunther writes that Hannibal’s historical importance lies in the fact that he brought to light to his contemporaries and to later generations the restletsnes s of Rome’s politics of alliance and expansion

- Livy on Rome’s condition after Cannae. ‘The consuls and two consular armies had been destroyed and there was no longer any Roman camp or any general.- On Toynbee – an instance of an attempt to attach blame for a historical event on a single individual, and few historians or environmentalists would today treat the clain seriously- Poet Juvenal – the man whom Africa could not contain, who added Scipio to his empire, who leapt over the Pyrenees.- Dr Samuel Johnson couplet imitation of Satire 10 He left a name, at which the world grew pale, to point a moral and adorn tale

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...his Time
o HannibalBarca (247-183/182 BC) “excited, frightened and – once safely dead – drew reluctant admiration from the Romans” (Hoyos, 2008). For an historian to assess Hannibal’s legacy they would need to acknowledge both his immediate impact on the Mediterranean world and his lasting influence on Rome. The most immediate effect Hannibal had on his time stemmed from his involvement in the Punic Wars. The tactics he employed and the threat he posed to Rome, led to changes in their military and magistracies and his influence in Carthage was to oversee it becoming “energetically outward-looking… constantly evolving and… more and more attuned to Hellenistic Greek civilization (Hoyos, 2008).
Hannibal’s influence came as a result of his involvement in the Punic Wars. The question of whether the Second Punic War was of Hannibal’s making is debated greatly amongst modern historians but regardless, it is unlikely it would have taken the course it did without Hannibal as the predominant leader of the Carthaginian forces. Both Polybius and Livy described Hannibal making an oath to his father at the age of nine that he would never become a friend of Rome. With this and his defiance of Rome by attacking Saguntum as evidence, many modern scholars have attributed the outbreak of war in 218 directly to Hannibal. Bagnall for example, suggests that “Hannibal was bent on war and Rome...

...I
10 March 2013
HannibalBarca
The life of HannibalBarca was one full of controversy, excitement, and great accomplishments. As a leader during the Punic Wars, a war fought between Rome and Carthage, he was faced with a multitude of tough decisions. His journey began at the young age of ten when his father, Hamilcar another great Carthaginian general, took him to Iberia and introduced him to the world of war. He was a child who had “grown up with war” (Hannibal, Clifford W. Mills) and in a time when it signified respect he became hungry to live up to his fathers name. After his father was killed in battle the expansion into Spain was left to his brother-in-law, Hasdrubal. In 221 BC Hasdrubal was assassinated, leaving Hannibal to return “to his father’s aggressive military politics” (Jona Lendering, Hannibal). The events following his election lead to a number of battles, which left him to be considered one of the greatest military commanders in history to date.
The first controversy Hannibal caused was the besieging of Saguntum. With Saguntum being a Roman ally this caused discussion whether his proceedings were a violation of the Ebro Treaty. This treaty denied Carthage the ability to neither conquer nor cross north of Spain’s Ebro River. This event caused the Romans to feel offended and in return request that the Carthaginian government extradite...

...HANNIBAL AND THE BATTLE OF CANNAE
The battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War near the town of Cannae, an ancient village in southern part of Italy. The battle took place between the outnumbered Carthaginian army under Hannibal against the Romans under the command of Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. For the most part, the Romans were overpowered by the undermanned Carthaginian forces. Many historians agree that the battle of Cannae is one of the greatest strategic victories in military history.
Numerous historians have examined the possible route Hannibal took from New Carthage to the Pyrénées and then over the Alps to Rome. Along with using scientific data, these historians and scientists allege that there are three possible routes Hannibal may have taken from New Carthage in Iberia across Europe to get to Italy. Scientists and historians do disagree on which route is most accurate do to the fact that the only historical accounts of Hannibal’s journey are that of Livy and Polybius. Neither historian leaves a very detailed account of the surroundings for Hannibal and his troops. Through paleobotanical reconstruction, attempts have been made to more clearly identify if the places noted by Livy and Polybius resemble any of these places today1.
Hannibal came from the very well-known Carthaginian Barca family. His father, Hamilcar...

...How HannibalBarca became one of the
greatest generals in History
The purpose of this report is to show how HannibalBarca became one of the greatest generals in history.
To back-up and show how he is fitting for this title, this report will include his motivations, his outstanding achievements and greatest feats during his lifetime and the consequences of his actions after his death.
HannibalBarca was born in 247 BCE, his birthplace Carthage was about to lose a long and very important war. Carthage had been the Mediterranean’s most prosperous seaport and possessed wealthy provinces, but it had suffered severe losses from the Romans in the first Punic wars (264-241)1.
Hamiclar Barca, Hannibal’s father, was the general during the first Punic war. However, at the end of the war, the Carthaginians had failed to take control of Sicily, one of their most important provinces. The Romans now controlled Sicily, and this was a matter Hamiclar did not take lightly. Hamiclar was “driven by his hatred of the Romans”2. Hamiclar truly hated the Romans after they humiliated the Carthaginians at their forced surrender in Sicily.
HannibalBarca had been waiting in Carthage for his moment to rise to power. At a very early age, Hamiclar “made his son swear eternal hatred to Rome”3. Hannibal, at the age of no more than twenty, was sent to...

...Germanicus. But few have accomplished the feats of HannibalBarca in the Second Punic War. His major accomplishment, marching his army through the Pyrenees and the Alps and into what is now Italy, is a military accomplishment worth honoring. During his march, Hannibal defeated the Romans in three decisive battles; Trebia, Trasimene, and his most decisive and well fought victory at Cannae. When Hannibal finally arrived in Italy, he maintained an Army there for over a decade pillaging and plundering his way through the heart of Ancient Rome. While in Italy he never lost on the battlefield, and eventually had to withdraw back to Carthage to attempt to fend off a Roman counter-attack led by Scipio Africanus. It is here that Hannibal is finally defeated, quite decisively, by the Romans.
To better understand Hannibal’s great military expertise, it is important to first understand his history. To accomplish this, we turn our attention towards Rome’s greatest historian, Livy. In his work, History of Rome, Livy dedicated ten of his 137 books to the seventeen year long Second Punic War. So to begin, Hamilcar, Hannibal’s father, was the commander of the Carthaginian forces late in the First Punic War, and this is the root of Hannibal’s great disgust for the Roman Empire. Livy tells us that after this war, when Hamilcar was preparing to transfer his troops to the Iberian Peninsula to help rebuild...

...the Roman general. Scipio motivates his armies by making a point that they, the Romans, are the top dogs and their enemies are weak and can be easily defeated. Hannibal, the Carthaginians military commander, despises the Romans for abusing that power and is willing to go to extreme lengths to end it.
Both, Scipio and Hannibal, are similar in the sense that they bring up their enemies’ weaknesses to induce their armies. Scipio mentions to his soldiers that their enemies have lost two thirds of their infantry and cavalry in their passage over the Alps so to mark the advantage that they have over them. The Alps is regarded as the force of nature and by this, they consider the Gods are on their side. Hannibal, on the other hand, mentions that their opponents’ general is a stranger to his own soldiers, meaning they are not yet a powerful force. Hannibal clearly seems closer with his men than Scipio is with his, and Hannibal sees this as the advantage on his side. Scipio shows a more dictatorial behavior with his soldiers and regards the reason for going into battle as their main responsibility towards their nation. At the end of his speech, Scipio reminded his armies, “the senate and people of Rome are watching our exploits today,” so they will remember the glories they’ll attain when returning home with victory. Hannibal, however, seems to be more approachable with his men and encourages them...

...with summer cooking like it has been, I'm afraid I've been too busy to post! However, I don't want to leave my blog a dusty corner of the Web so in the next week or two I will be posting some material that's just been sitting around on my computer. The following is from an essay originally titled "Human Beast: Analysis of Dr. Lecter" which I wrote for my Textual Analysis class last year.
Man is the world’s most dangerous animal. Though we do not possess sharp teeth, claws, poisonous stingers, or the ability to perceive heat radiated by other creatures, we do possess an unsurpassed ability to reason and think. Man has intelligence, the deadliest natural weapon of all. In Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs, readers are introduced to Hannibal Lecter, the cannibalistic psychiatrist, who fuses a razor-honed intellect with the savage qualities of a beast. He is both man and monster, but it is the balance of these two aspects that gives him the depth that still fascinates and horrifies to this day.
Even before the readers see Lecter, other characters make references to his monstrousness, giving him the presence of a Bogeyman. In the first chapter, Jack Crawford warns Clarice Starling to not let Lecter into her head and tells her to remember “what he did to Will Graham.” Without even seeing Lecter, the readers know he is dangerous in more ways than one. He not only has a penchant for consuming human flesh, but also for feeding on the emotions of his victims....

...Abnormal Psychology
Fictional Character Analysis
Hannibal Lecter from “Hannibal” series
Character Description:
Hannibal Lecter is the primary character in the “Hannibal” movie series and will be the subject of psychiatric evaluation for this paper. The series is comprised of 4 films (“Hannibal Rising”, “Silence of the Lambs”, “Red Dragon”, “and Hannibal”) which follow Lecter’s life from youth to adulthood. Lecter is a white male of average height and weight; he is a brilliant doctor and exceptionally well mannered and educated individual. Hannibal Lecter was born in Lithuania in the year of 1933 to a wealthy, aristocratic family. In the midst of World War II, Hannibal, his parents and younger sister, Mischa, relocated to a cabin in the woods to escape the war. Here, tragic events took place. First, Lecter and his sister witness their parents murdered during an explosion involving a group of Nazi military men. The Nazi men, in desperate need of food killed and cannibalized Lecter’s younger sister, which Hannibal witnesses first hand. This traumatic event can be marked as the driving force of Lecter’s sadistic ways. Lecter was than sent to an orphanage where he acted out frequently; he often ran away, lied, stole, and displayed significant extreme aggression towards others. Lecter also had a tendency to wake up screaming in the night after...